who is the best? spits or phelps. >> the peak of both of you, who would win? >> selfishly maybe i might beat him. >> spits's inspiring advice and escape from a terror attack with the whole world watching. this is piers morgan tonight. >> mark spits is a true olympic legend long before michael phelps was swimming in the pool. he won seven gold medals and 40 years later he remains an icon and american hero. welcome. >> my pleasure. >> what's it like being an american icon? >> probably more than not being an icon. i thrusted into that opportunity in 1972 and didn't realize my performance would elevate to a level where people would look at something special. >> i remember it vividly. it was the first olympic games i ever watched on television with any kind of interest or be old enough to understand. all i remember is you were this incredible fish. every time you went in the water, everyone else had to get out. you destroyed everyone. you had the most incredible mustache. it's now gone. >> i grew that out of spite because the college coach said you need to look like the all american boy. it took me about five or six months to grow that. i had intentions of shaving it off and all my competitors were talking about it and they were not talking about beating me. i had the intention of shaving the thing off the day before competition. i had a chance to swim in the olympic venue one more time. in the evening. we never had a chance to practice when the russians were there. i got it in the water and the russians let me swim for a couple of moments. one of the questions is when are you shaving this thing off? i came up with this thought, it's not going to happen. i am not going to shave it. i deflection the water away from my mouth and he is translating every russian swimmer that was a male had a mustache and figured it must have been good. it worked for me. >> you became this huge poster boy for american sports afterwards. what are your memories of that olympics? to go and win seven, other than michael phelps, no one has been in that position. you were very confident and you thought you would win and you hadn't. you came with a bit more pressure. you swept the water. talk me through what it was like. >> i had a difficult time from 1968 olympic games in mexico city where i was expected to win a lot of gold medals. that is pretty remarkable, but the problem was i didn't win gold and i held a world record. one i got a silver medal and it cost me a place on a relay and the other i qualified first and got dead last. it was the first event of the olympic games and the 200 meter butterfly. a guy named doug russell beat me. i had this fire in my system to go for another four years. i found it difficult to work out and train, but i had a focus and that was to do the best i could. over the course of whey learned was a mistake of not being able to swim all the events in one competition. i started to do that. the year before in houston, i won the four individual events and broke three and got the solomon award, the best athlete as an amateur in america. i realized i had the capacity to accomplish this at least in theory on paper. thank goodness my coaches encouraged me. >> when you are standing there having won the seventh consecutive goal, putting you into the olympicians, a very rare small number and playing for the seventh time. what is that emotion like? >> i was so happy it was over. >> you must have been exhausted. >> i was because the program started on a monday and continued through the major league monday. over days, i swam every day but friday. i was in the water 13 different times. we had the relimits and the semi finally and what have you. day it was like one shy of getting off of the cart and i felt i was having a better go of it. i was exhausted by the time it came to my last 100 meter freestyle. the last stroke i took at the olympic games, i don't think i could have taken another stroke. i was 100% up until the last stroke and i had one drop of gas in the tank. >> what does it take to be a true olympic champion? what are the qualities anybody needs? >> a coach. and the support of your family and a good system. being in a program where there is a lot of great athletes is a very enlightening thing. my family moved me from one town to santa clara, california where i was coached with a guy named george haynes. >> even as a young kid, you ran into the sea to swim like a maniac. is that right? >> i didn't run into the sea with the thought i was going to have to swim 26,000 miles and have a 14-year career and become a 7 gold medal swimmer. >> sorry that how many you swam? >> i calculated it, but -- >> what made you different? >> i hated the idea of losing. i built one day at a time and became a world record holdner a freestyle that most people don't know was the first world record. i swam with a guy who was my inspiration and i broke his world record. >> you broke 33, is that right? >> from a technicality it should have been counted. because they were done in the same day, by the same person, i didn't get recognized in the yard chronologically. if i broke it and went faster in the finals, it only counted the final time. >> you should have 35. >> who's counting. >> you are. that's what makes you clearly the edge. that's the edge. it's that kind of mind that said i may have won 33, but it should have been 35. it's still with you. >> i walk off a plane in australia in 2000 for the olympic games there. i was in a press conference and somebody said what has been the greatest journey of your career. i said how about seven gold medals. he said i don't think that was. everyone was silent. what i did was analyzed swimming like baseball statistics. from the first world record you had not counting prelims and semi finals, you have to take your collegieate and what they call short course program away in a 25-yard pool. you can break a world record and you swam 75 times and you had 33 to 35 world records. almost 50% of the time, you broke a record and the last two years of my career, i swam 20 times and broke a world record 19 times. >> wow. >> my competitors knew that. that helped me. each day i won a gold medal, my competitors were second-guessed whether or not they train and rested enough and the food was good at the olympic village. they were watching me time and time again become successful. that's the reason michael fell ps is successful. he uses that success one day after another. it's arduous to get to that level of training and the psyche that you need to put on yourself to win, but it helps. if you are multitalented to use that moving forward. >> let's take a break and talk about michael phelps. i sat down with him for an hour and found him a fascinating guy. not the least of which because i met you and i see a lot of similarities. let's explore those. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. just $14.99. start with soup, salad and cheddar bay biscuits then choose one of 7 entrees plus dessert! four perfect courses, just $14.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. . >> records are made to be broken. no matter what they are. anybody can do anything they set their mind to. i said it all along. i want to be the first michael phelps and not the second mark spitz. >> in beijing, talking about mark spitz. how did you feel about that? he wants to be the first michael phelps. >> we're saw michael come on the scene and n athens and at the olympic games where he attempted to swim in eight evens and came away with six medals. i knew he had the capacity to attempt to break my record. i knew it was a matter of time. if he stayed healthy, we obviously saw what he was able to do. i felt a relief. you heard the cliche. the roars are made to be broken. why should mine be exclusive? it was a matter of time that someone came along and i inspired someone not even born to do the best he could. in the process my record got broken. why wouldn't i be proud in they accolade was that he was able to do that. >> i interviewed him and apart from being physically impressive, he had an aura of invincibility. he was a guy who knew he was head and shoulders and in his case massive wing span shoulders above everybody else. he had that aura and swagger. you have that too. do you recognize that in the true champion? >> he has the ability to know his om pet tors and make one or two less mistakes. in a regular basis, saying that he may have only been 4 or 5% better than everybody, but since it was always better than everybody, the illusion was he was so grand and that make 2s great. they are able to repeat that time and again. regardless of the conditio. not every time do you feel great. not every time. there were a lot of times he felt terrible. >> you and michael phelps, no goggles. you can wear a cap if you want. right now at the peak, who would win? >> i have been answered it? >> i answered the honest way. if i was great because i knew everything i needed to know to beat that other person, i would have to know everything that would be necessary to beat michael. likewise he would have to know everything to beat me. the answer is we would have to tie. >> there is a caveat to that. somebody else said yeah, you won by a greater margin. you knew how to beat your competition by greater margins. i would like to say selfishly maybe i might beat him. i would have to say yeah, of course i want to beat him. it wouldn't matter if i had a cap or a fur coat. >> i couldn't imagine you saying anything different. he i suspect would say he would beat you. that is what makes it such huge olympians. >> obviously you posed a question that is never going to happen. the reality is that some day there will be another michael phelps who are will say the same thing. i want to be myself. the benchmark of who they are and the water shed is really to identify trying to implement and emulate that person. >> are you friends? >> i haven't talked to him that much. i handed him an award. the first time when was he qualified to swim at the olympic games for athens. i whit pered something in his ear and the press really said what did you say? i said it was private. they pulled it out of me. what i said was i know you can do this. just stop listening to the press, but give them all the time they want. >> what do you make of the drug abuse in sports? these are successly athletics and olympians and champions toppling down like dominos caught cheating? what do you think? >> the international committee has done a great job of trying to police drugs. they were the first to do it in the olympic games in mexico city. they are not perfect. they try to get as best they can all of the offenders. there is a little bit of design to let the best fall through the cracks. they lift all of the drugs about 6 to nine months ahead of time so that the athletes would get a whiff. don't take it anymore. that gives a drug buffet of everything else out there to be taken that they knowingly won't be tested for. the old school drugs seem to make the list before the new school drugs. they do not make performance enhancing drugs. this has been discovered from the coaches in the 80s and 90s. you have to say if it will improve by 8% or 9% max, i will not get a gold metal, why is it wasting my time. >> sorry there a simple answer that you ban the cheats for life? >> the question is if the penalty is greater enough to where you are out of a sport for four years, the odds are you are not going to get the second chance. that's almost a lifetime in sports at that elite level. the craziness of the rules is that most people don't actually know what the rules are. i remember the incident back in 1999 in perth, australia, there was somebody that brought in human growth hormone. the penalty was four years. they had the masking drug. the masking drugs penalty was two years that superseded the four-year penalty. if you cheated the cheat, you only had a two-year penalty. what brain trust figured that out? it's ridiculous. since the chinese brought it in less than two years prior to the olympic games, they make it a six-month penalty so at least the chinese could could and compete. there is a twisting of the rules. >> i would be straight forward. i would test every athlete ever every event. anybody found guilty for life. within two years there would be no cheats. >> they test everyone that gets first, second, and third and one at random. that's for the drugs on that list. if the drug is not on that list, there is no way they will find them. >> it's a sad thing. sad that it's so prevalent. one very, very sad event, your great, great year at the olympics was an incident with the murder of the israeli athletes and i will talk to you about that after the break. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] we believe you're at your best when you can relax and be yourself. and at thousands of newly refreshed holiday inn hotels, you always can. holiday inn. stay you. and now stay rewarded withacation pay. stay two weekend nights and get a $75 prepaid card. . you now said there were 11 hostages. two were killed in their rooms. this was yesterday morning. nine were killed at the airport tonight. they are all gone. >> a moment in olympic history. announcing the israelis taking hostages at the games. stunning the world and the olympics went on. pits on seven gold medals. back with me now, you are jewish. a shattering event. what are your memories of it? >> for me and the whole swimming community, swimming was over before this happened. we finished on the evening of monday and this happened on the early hours into tuesday. i had gone out with a gentlemen by the name -- two gentlemen and still is a photographer at "sports illustrated." he created two covers for me and a guy who wrote a bunch of articles for sports illustrate and became the editor of "time" magazine and they took me to dinner and we had a great time and wanted to throw me drinks. i don't drink. at the restaurant that evening. at 9:00 in the morning, i woke up and went to the press conference and they were the first to greet me at the van with the ioc officials and the coaches and they said did you hear what happened? i said i was with you last night. there was about 1500 press people in the room and there has been a lockdown. we don't know what's going on. supposedly there was terrorist activities in the village. they had high powered zoom lenses and the press center next to the village. for the first time, the athlete came out with the hat on talking to what appeared to be a hostess, but the hostess was really a crisis negotiator. we had no sound and we didn't know what was going on. this is like wow. happening like in slow motion. i went back in with now police to get back in the village and the chancellor was in my room saying everything was fine. i was ushered out. this was about 10:30 in the morning. i was ushered out and the village was on top of a garage and we went into a car and had a blanket over my head. taken to the actual airport and flew to london. >> you had been identified as a potential target? >> that's a great question. i don't think so. here obviously they must have had this well-planned years or months in advance and i was a jewish athlete and american. i was winning the gold medals. if they had a change of heard, they could have immediately come to my room instead of the compound where the israelis were staying. i didn't feel i was in the cross hairs. >> awful day. >> it was terrible. the olympic games today is modelled based on the security not only for the athletes, but for the press, the media and the speck stators and the citizens of a host city. the olympic community has done a great job to protect. i became a real gigantic event as a sports celebrity winning seven gold medals and a news event and then a tragedy and elevated at a much higher level. we are talking about it right now. 40 years later. >> extraordinary. as london approaches, a lot of athletes competing and about to compete and so on. what is it like to represent america as an athlete? >> well, i just watched the olympic trials recently with my son. we noticed that in swimming we take two per event. the third place person that got left home had the third fastest time in the world that had he been brought, he might have been winning a medal. it's quite a big honor to represent the united states in your sport. for your sport. there is a lot of training that goes behind getting to that level and a lot of pressure. the reward is standing on the awards stand. just watching. it all unfolds to your success. that's why you see people cry. >> when they play the anthem and all the work is suddenly worth it. even now you are emotional. >> it's kind of strange because i didn't have an opportunity to enjoy any of it. to me i was on a mission. i didn't have any time to reflect whatsoever. >> do you swim these days? >> i try to swim a couple days a week. i walk for about 45 minutes to an ho to stay in shape and cloaks are very revealing. >> you look in great shape. how old are you in. >> i'm 62. >> you look better than me. >> i don't think so. >> i try to swim, but not the same speed y did. did you time yourself? >> that would be a big mistake. >> where do you swim? >> there is a masters swim program at ucla here in los angeles and a bunch of guys that used to be swimmers and a bunch of people that never had a chance that believe they would like to be a competitive swimmer and masters programs. i went to munich a number of years ago and it was about six or seven years ago and they had the swim championships. there was a meet with 12,000 athletes. it's like carpet. it's like watching fruit getting processed in a mill. there was swimmers that kept going off and off. in some events, they started the race before the last person got out. there was such excitement and enthusiasm. i believe sports is great and think there can be -- >> when you get in the pool, these masters, you still want to kill them, right? be honest. >> i tell you a funny story -- >> do you ever lose? >> i get in the slow lane so i can win. >> have you lost a race in the last 30 years? >> not really. >> mark spitz, it has been a pleasure. >> thank you. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ [ female announcer ] and try aleve for relief from tough headaches. somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! 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[ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. >> you said to keep him busy. he is busy holding his nuts. >> a 30-year acting career including born on the fourth of july and the hit the closer. one of hollywood's best marriages including one degree of separation. she joins me now. do you get sick of the degrees of separation? >> yes, i do. i can't believe it's still -- i think he turned it into something great. you initially thought of it as a put down or a joke. i don't know how he spun that. people always say i'm one degree away when they see me on the subway. i interviewed your husband and he's a great chap. i loved what he said about you. i won't make you skimmer with embarrassment. >> i found her really very beautiful and sexy and aloof. i was just immediately in love with her and she was immediately put off by me. >> did you know she was the one? >> yeah. i did. >> you were right. you have been inacceptable ever since. >> it was great. >> oh, god. >> you are getting emotional? >> yeah. we're lucky. >> you said about him recently when he walks into a room, my heart gets a little flutter and think he's so cute. he's so hot. it's touching that you can watch him talk about you like that and get tearful. >> yeah. >> that is the ultimate testament to the strength of your marriage. >> yep. >> do you remember the first time you met him? >> absolutely. >> we were doing a film, a pbs american playhouse film of the play in the sky. we were all getting picked up in the van and we were in cambridge, massachusetts. he got picked up and thing to came in first and he had a hudson bay cool coat. his back lab mix came in first and he came in and he was aloof. my first thought was he is really caulky and he thinks he's so cool. little did i knowe was not that way at all. >> 25 years of marriage, so happy. >> not quite. it will be 24 in september. >> 24. >> nearly a quarter of a century. >> what are is the trick? is it luck in finding the right person? >> it's absolutely luck. i don't know. i always get uncomfortable with that question. i feel like never take the secret to a happy marriage is to not take advice from celebrities about marriage. >> what are worked for you? did you have a way that you are? >> we did just get lucky, but we have the same priorities and that helps a lot. we know that our relationship has to be sort of the primary relationship and the primary purpose of our lives in a way even though we have so many other parts of our lives that are important. that makes it easier when you have the same priorities. >> have you actually acted with him? he directioned you, but have you starred? >> yes. >> what was that like? >> it was scary. i think i initially said i didn't think it was a good idea. it was a very dark film with b a pedophile who was out of jail and recovering. i was afraid that it would be -- we met on lemon sky. i was afraid that it would take people out of a movie and i felt like it was an important movie to be made. how would they tell we know each other so well. >> you are sitting there having a glass of line and it was like this dar horrible thing. i am going to pretend she my husband. >> i didn't have problems of that. >> you have two adult children. you look youthful. >> thank you. >> i have to get the secret of that. tell me about your kids. how old are they? >> my son will turn 23 and my daughter is 20. it's crazy. i turn around and look at them and say who is that? i can't believe those kids are mine. they are big and they're so much further along than i was at their age even though at my son's age i was married and had a kid, but i didn't know who i was or -- he really does. they inspire me. >> they find it hard being the products of two famous acting stars? >> i don't think they know any better. they don't know any differently. it's what they have always known. i can't imagine that it hasn't been having the challenges. we always encouraged them to think about that. i think they will think about it when it's their time. it's annoying when you are with your kid and they are telling you something important and someone comes in and asks for an autograph or wants to talk. it's lovely that people want to talk to you. it's part of the gig. it's hard when your kid feels a little -- >> it blows the line. let's take a break and let's talk about obama, bernie madoff and the closer. not necessarily in that order or together. >> okay. male spirit present.trong it's the priceline negotiator. >>what? 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>> yes. >> kyra sedgwick with tom cruise in 1989. you can't be as old as i know you are. >> thank you. >> how do you stay so youthful? >> i drink a lot of water. i honestly don't know. i take care of myself, i guess. >> work out ten hours a day? >> not ten hours a day, no. but i like to exercise. i do it more for my head than anything else. >> what was tom cruise like to work with? i saw you laughing? an affectionate remembrance. >> i loved him. he was so wonderful and inviting and generous as an actor and such a hard worker. he is such a hard worker. >> he doesn't age either. >> yeah. >> here looks the same. it's quite weird. >> no, i don't think it's weird. he takes care of himself. probably gets good facials. >> he's like benjamin button in reverse. >> good bone structure. >> sorry that the secret? you have good bone structure. >> i can have better structure. you need to have high cheekbones. >> i know a guy who can do that. >> talking about things about your bones, what about bernie madoff, when i spoke to him, you had been through this horrible experience. what are your feelings about him? we still on that? is that still a topic of interest? >> take him down and we can move on. >> i know you so want that. i see him as a sick man and i see us as adult who is made a choice and i see a lot of people that are so much worse off than we are. i think that [ bleep ] happens. can i say that? >> he has a horrible life at this point. i know you hate him more than we do. >> it's a human being. he ruined so many lives. >> i agree. >> i don't think you should be divorced. you are taking this very well. i would be enraged. >> right. >> you are a micer person than me. >> i wouldn't say that nice, but -- >> more forgiving. let's turn to president obama. you have been vocal about the president and tweeted about the big obama lost american job when is he blocked the epa from cutting smog and ozone pollution. a great day for exxon-mobil and a bad day for kids. >> i think nothing is more important right now. i know the economy is in trouble, but i think we have to protect our natural resources for our children. we have to somehow curb our addiction to fossil fuel. the pipeline was a very obviously -- it was a very tricky subject for a lot of people. it was supposed to create a lot of jobs, but from my research i was not entirely convinced they were jobs that would stick around. there were a lot of jobs to be had and for the most period of time it was going through pristine land and ruining it for the future. i don't think we have that much land to squander anymore. you an obama fan? >> i love obama. he had a hard time of it and been blamed for things that were not on his watch. given a second term, i think he will be bolder. i think that sometimes his statesmanship gets in his way and his diplomacy gets in his way. hopefully in the second term he will care less about this. >>. >> you one of these people who will vote? >> absolutely. 100%. i get the idea that we are all not voting and it's not such a small percentage of the country that is actually voting. one of the few things we can do to make a difference. >> hollywood has been turning on obama and stars feeling disappointed to him and he hasn't lived up to expectations. >> hoe impossible expectations to live up to. absolutely. everyone hung all their hopes on him and there was only so much we do in a four-year term. you worried republicans may get in? >> always. i am. >> what do you think of mitt romney? >> i need to learn more about him. >> gut feeling. >> i will be voting for obama. >> you are very diplomatic. >> i try to be. i would rather not be quoted all over the cntry. >> you are entitled to have a say. you are an active tweeter. do you like twit snter? >> i am not as diligent as i should be. kevin is better and much more creative. >> do you like the instant feedback or is it terrifying. >> it is vaguely terrifying because it's so personal sometimes and it feels like something you don't want to do, but then i find the twitter universe or twitter verse to be pretty polite group of people. >> you haven't read any of my followers. >> you know what they say, any negative and i block them. >> i like the haters. they get me up in the morning. >> i'm sure. >> let's talk about the closer, this brilliant series that has been dominating the last five years. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. 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[ announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ . with rape suspects as usual. >> your suspects are my clients. sex isn't always rape. >> murder a little and dna can be helpful in court. >> if you have a sample, yes. here. let me help you with that. >> kyra sedgwick with the feisty and brilliant deputy chief. she has taken home an emmy for brenda lee johnson. the closer is the only series in table history to be number for five years. amazing. you have about million viewers monday night and the final series. how do you feel about this being the end? >> it has been the end since december. while i missed the people so much and do love the consistent work, it's been okay to take a break. it's good. it's done good. it was an extraordinary experience. it was so creatively fulfilling. more than almost anything i have done. >> does there come a point when you just worry about this is going to be -- you have to get out of the right moment. so many other things you want to do. these shows can be brutal to make up. in terms of the filming schedule. >> it's completely overwhelming and all consuming. that's why we are done now. it was time. >> did you cry? was it emotional? >> oh, yeah. very boo-hooey. >> do you die? >> i don't die. i don't die. it won't ruin anything to say i don't die. >> i couldn't bear seeing your rotting carcass. >> my rotting carcass. i love that. >> what do you think now? free time. >> yeah. i am seeing a lot of plays and sleeping a lot, but i want to do other things. that's why it's time and the perfect time to go when people want year around. you don't start smelling like a fish. a dead fish. >> a rotting carcass fish. what has been the best moment of your career. if i could replay it for you right now, you would choose. >> i think one of the best moments of my career was working with paul newman in mr. and mrs. bridge. working with him as a person, as a mentor and as an actor. >> just a great guy. >> extraordinary. >> literally. he was on a different level. both on screen and off. >> and he raualways talked abou his acting got so much smaller and smaller and he would look at the work and say too big, too big. i try to remember that and he gave me lots of well-earned wise education about how to deal with kids and how to dry safely and he was very wise. >> what was his advice about kids? >> his advice about kids is i remember he looked at me and travis was two months old when i did mr. and mrs. bridge. he said to me, he looked at me with the baby blue eyes crinkly and getting full with kids. he said you never stop worrying and being a parent. don't think that will ever go away. there was something about that that i take solace in as my kids get older. >> he's right. >> absolutely. >> you think when they flee the nest, that's it, but that's when the real trouble happens. do you have a big ambition or a project you would love to do? >> my big ambition is to work in film with great directors. >> who are is the one? >> alexander -- >> why him? >> i think every movie he makes is so other and so brilliant and so spontaneous and real and so -- and the characters. there is never any forcing of anything. it's just so immensely watchable. >> have you had conferrings? >> i met him several times and auditioned him. >> he rejected you? >> a few times. >> what was he think something. >> hopefully he will see the error of his ways. >> i think he would be great. >> oh, yeah. >> i was watching this. i think you would be great. >> i would love to be. p >> get you and kevin together. >> the double oscar the same year. >> i always say where is my dead man walking? remember